The Let's Play Archive

Mega Man Zero 1

by Simply Simon

Part 4: Path of Least Resistance

The resistance base is where we start in-between each mission, and is mostly there for flavor. Apart from a very few items we can get here, everything is just dialogue to fluff out the game world. I'm fine with that, and it's actually quite a lot of dialogue that even changes over time! I won't just copypaste every single line of dialogue the inhabitants have from the textdump on GameFAQs; you can look that up yourself, or play the game! I will, however, try and present you important stuff or paraphrase it.

Music: Intermission

So, when last we left off, Zero had just declined to help Ciel and her Resistance fight the overbearing forces of Neo Arcadia. Nevertheless, the rebels still let Zero hang around their hideout, and that is what we'll do.


Ciel's standing in the Data room (as we'll later be able to save the game by talking to her), which is all there is on the second floor below ground. A handy elevator will take us to the other floors.


B3 is the Trance floor, which is sadly not where they take their drugs and/or dance to funky music, but rather where the Trans Server is located. As that would have lead to a more uncomfortable joke, I'm pretty happy with this.
There's a generic resistance member chilling next to the door.

Are you the Reploid known as Zero, sir? Thank you for saving Dr. Ciel. By the way... Know how to use a Trans Server?

If we answer no, he'll give us a lenghty overview on what the thing does. Two things, really. First, it teleports, which we've already seen; we can go to any Trans Server that we've activated before. Second, it's the way to manage your Cyber-Elves; I'll get into those later. For now, let's move on and downwards.


We've skipped to the very bottom, B5. In which we find this giant engine, probably powering everything above. It has parallax scrolling, woo!


Also, this is where they hide the crazy weapons nerd. Let's see what he's up to.


He doesn't give it right now, but his name is Cerveau, which means "intelligence". Creative naming was never Capcom's forte.

Wow! You are Zero? I never thought I'd get to meet you. We believe that your Z Saber has unlimited potential for power-ups. It could also have an effect on other weapons. I believe your buster can be charged to shoot a powerful energy bullet.


If you have to...he tells us that even though Zero still suffers from Amnesia, he's still a natural at killing stuff. Doing so will make him remember more techniques, indicated by stars next to the weapon in the menu.


Not quite "unlimited" potential, but man, that row of stars will take a while to fill out. I'll give you a post on exact leveling up mechanics later.

For now, to the other guy they hide in the basement...


I'm too hungry to move. Will you spare me some Energy Crystal? 250 Crystals will do. Will you give them to me?

In case you missed the pretty tiny number above, we've only got 96 Energy Crystals from the intro stage. So fuck him. Sadly enough, this is among the lowest amount of ECs ever needed to pay for something.

Let's leave this dreary place and go up a level.


This is Andrew. Andrew is awesome.




Other than him, though, the fourth floor is pretty empty and in disarray. It goes to show without hitting us over the head how bleak the Resistance's situation really is. I like that, because other than Ciel telling us relatively composed that they're basically fucked, the members don't really whine about the fact. You can infer that yourself. It's pretty much the first time a Mega Man game was ever subtle about something.


Jumping up to the first floor, we meet this charming little girl! Her name means "lark".

Have you ever heard of a thing called Cyber-elf? A Cyber-elf is an electronic entity that gives some kind of a power. But once they use their powers, they die... I feel sorry for them...

As said, the idea of giving one-use-only electrical appliances independent thought is incredibly cruel and completely pointless. The game never fails to hammer home that fact. However, although I'm sure there's some hidden in a backstory Manga or whatever, it never gives an explanation for them to possess intelligence. It's just the way it is. Zero 3 might shed more light on the subject, but that's for far later, obviously.


The mass hall has also seen better days. We meet this guy.

You don't look familiar to me, sir... I see. Zero is your name...
Then I'll call you Mr. Zero. My name is Dande. It's the name Ciel gave me. I used to be called 0NB6. Dull name, isn't it.

So dull that I never knew it until I looked up this conversation. Many people have a second line to say if you talk to them again (indicated by the line break above), but as there's no indication who does it, and most people you meet at first don't, this is very missable. Especially as everyone changes his or her lines over the course of the game, so a casual player won't read most of the conversations! I like that it's optional world-building, and that if you just want to play, you can ignore it, but in case you were inclined to listen, it's a little tedious...five floors with about as many people in total scattered in every corner? It gets boring dashing through empty corridors fast. There is one conversation you need here to get 100%, which is kind of annoying, but not remotely as problematic as in the following game, where those easy-to-miss and everchanging second lines held quite a few gifts in stock you could completely bypass without ever knowing about them.


Back to the game on hand, the first floor houses the Energy storage. Juicy crystals, which is apparently what Reploids eat? I mean we could just get a handful and give them to Fat Guy (I don't think he gets a name)...


...oh . Seems they're almost completely out of energy. This is a large container, amounting to 16 crystals, and we're taking it because hey, those guys must have been low on rations for days? Zero hasn't eaten for a century.


To the left of the ladder leading down to the storage, there's a very long one upwards; fresh air finally!


Still looks desolate out here. Oh, and robots don't breath nor feel the sun's warmth so welp, Zero can't catch a break.


Yup, future looks grim. Go to sleep a hundred years and everything turns to shit.


After a while (seriously there's far too much empty space in this overworld) we reach a deserty area...and a roadblock in form of this guy.
So...what about the other direction? It's just like 20 seconds of dashing without anything in the way...


Mhm. There's another ladder to right of the Resistance base, leading to...


...confirmation that we're truly boxed in at the moment. Until we talk to Ciel, I guess. Oh well. Returning to the Lab via Trans Server would be an option but the Lab smells and is also a dead end.
The female red-haired Reploid's mission is more than standing in the way, incidentally; she was told by Ciel to look for enemy transport trains. She'll tell us if one arrives. That's nice.


Nothing to do but jump down the elevator shaft. Weee no fall damage!


Hi Ciel, bye Ciel! The door behind her only opens if you're Rank A or S, meaning that it'll probably mystify you for your entire first playthrough, as once you start out with like 60 points from the atrociously hard to high-rank intro mission, you'll never again get your average up to A (more than 85 points). There's a way to get A-Rank temporarily; it's pretty much only useful for here...or if you want a little extra challenge. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Other than that, better do good on that intro mission! Thankfully, a lot of those pretty shoddy design ideas get alleviated by the game having a New Game+ mode, where you can get what you missed.


This is Ciel's room.


That'll teach you to let strangers into your room just because they impressed you in combat!




So, Ciel, I've been thinking...
Actually, this screen contains a hidden challenge. Notice how far Zero and Ciel are standing from each other? Well, you actually have to talk to her (up on the d-pad) from that distance. Nearer won't work. So it took me a bit, and judging from some FAQs, other people too, to figure out how to actually interact with her. Sounds stupid, but it's not immediately obvious.

Will you... help us? Thank you... It's like a dream comes true. Now... With your help... I think I can save everyone. What I want to ask you is if you would try and do something that no one has been able to do so far... I want you to destroy the Disposal Center, where they retire our comrades one after another... Even while I speak, they may be retiring a Reploid who is wrongly suspected of being a Maverick. To prevent any additional loss of Reploid life, please destroy the enemy facility...
Will you accept?

I guess it's time we pay her back for waking Zero up.
As I've said in his character sheet, Zero never has internal monologue or something, and he very rarely talks to other people, so we don't really get any explanation for why he'd choose to help her. Judging from his general way of handling things, I'd say it's a mixture of "they seem to be cool" and "I'm getting bored anyway let's slice things up".

And we shall do so next time!






Wallpapers


Switching to the sword as main weapon will give us this picture on the bottom screen.


This is what we see in the Data Room.